Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba just can't make up his mind. He's one of those earnest, sensitive indie singer-songwriter types ala Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard. But he wouldn't mind being Jon Bon Jovi.

As a result his ever-changing output has veered from collections of intimate acoustic catharsis to slick adult contemporary pop to chest-beating rock anthems. 'Alter The Ending' embraces the latter. Produced by Butch Walker ? best known for his work with Avril Lavigne, Pink, and, uhm, Lindsay Lohan ? it's anything but stripped back.

Transformed into shiny, hook-laden radio fodder, with all nuances pummelled into submission, Carrabba's songs of heartbreak are strangled within inches of their lives. But beneath the glossy chiming guitars, overwrought orchestral arrangements, and the heavily-Vaselined vocals, they survive.

'Get Me Right', a brooding emo case study of self doubt, perfectly packs regretful verses and despairing chorus outbursts into a radio-ready hit. Despite claiming to go through the motions, 'The Motions' pairs a study on the physiological nature of love with a hook that's biologically impossible to resist. The sunny 'I Know About You' is a loving look back at the jangly indie rock of the '90s, while 'Water And Bridges' imagines misery ("these words are tearing me apart"; "oh save me from the grey life") as a slow burning lighter anthem.

But it's telling that the album's finest moments ? the stark but soulful 'Hell On The Throat' with its matured, yearning vocal and graceful organ accompaniment; the fragile strumming of the folky 'Even Now' ? bear no discernable traces of Walker's crass commercialism. And unplugged renditions of the album's strongest songs ? featured as bonus tracks ? reveal what should have been.

Carrabba needs to realise he's most intoxicating as a mostly regretful, sometimes playful, always honest troubadour ? and that one Jon Bon Jovi's already enough.